Above is a before and after shot of one of the front seats. Notice the "gullwing". I have another word for it... The design of the seatback is unique to the 1969 year, largely, I'm sure, to the fact that it is a true pain in the neck to cover, labor intensive doesn't begin to describe it. There is a LOT of hand stitching involved. The seatback starts out in two pieces, halfway through the process the seatback is riveted back together, and the "vest" portion of the seat (the cloth part) is pulled over the top. The back of the vest has two steel rods (or listings to those of you in the upholstery biz) that keep it in place while you sew it down to the sub-structure. The bottom, in contrast was cake, and I covered it in about ten minutes. I decided to go with cloth instead of recreating the basketweave box-bolsters for two reasons; first, the bolsters would have been no fun to make, and second, I, unlike the person who invented vinyl, have working sweat glands. The seat cover patterns were made from the pieced together shreds of remaining seat material. It had long since ceased to have any vinyl-like qualities and acted much like thin, brittle, plaster. It just crumbled away to dust when touched.
Below is a vintage, and surprisingly stout, late forties/early fifties Vogue sewing machine. My grandmother (the mean one) fobbed it off on me in one brief, weak, moment of "nice". It is mint, has all the cool attachments, and punches through several thicknesses of vinyl and leather like butter. Remember, sew as fast as the machine will go, and always watch TV while you are feeding the material
